Temporary Beltway Sanity — The doctor fix blows up in the Senate, no thanks to the AMA. — Printer — Friendly — Yesterday saw some rare good news on the health-care front, with the stealth Democratic plan to move $247 billion in ObamaCare costs off the books collapsing in the Senate on a procedural vote of 47 to 53.

Democrats Lose Big Test Vote on Health Legislation — WASHINGTON — Democrats lost a big test vote on health care legislation on Wednesday as the Senate blocked action on a bill to increase Medicare payments to doctors at a cost of $247 billion over 10 years.

Nelson: Reid, WH “leaning toward” public option — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the White House are leaning towards including a national public option — with a provision for states to opt out of it — in the Senate health care bill, Sen. Ben. Nelson (D-Neb.) said Thursday.

Reagan conservative in North Country — Doug Hoffman didn't have a chance to make his case to Republican voters in a primary in New York's 23rd Congressional District. That's because the local GOP establishment chose its candidate behind closed doors, in a formerly smoke-filled room.

Prelude to Republican fratricide — GOP candidates in New York and New Jersey should be cruising to victory this November. But angry conservatives would rather hand power to Democrats than help moderate Republicans win. — At the beginning of the summer, most observers expected Republicans …

How John Kerry got the Afghan leader to see sense. — Sen. John Kerry's successful mission to Kabul—in which he convinced Afghan President Hamid Karzai to hold a second-round runoff to August's fraud-soaked election—suggests that the Obama administration is putting the squeeze on Karzai …

Cheney's Speech Tonight — Dick Cheney that is, who will be speaking at the Center for Security Policy tonight. The speech is a real humdinger. Check back here at 6 for the full text of the former vice president's remarks.

EVEN NPR.... Ken Rudin is the political editor for NPR. To see him swallow the latest Republican attack meme whole is more than a little painful. Here's his commentary on “Talk of the Nation” yesterday, complaining about the White House's criticism of Fox News. … I'd like to think Ken Rudin knows better.

Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming — Modest Support for “Cap and Trade” Policy — There has been a sharp decline over the past year in the percentage of Americans who say there is solid evidence that global temperatures are rising. And fewer also see global warming …

Conservatives roar; GOP trembles — Many top Republicans are growing worried that the party's chances for reversing its electoral routs of 2006 and 2008 are being wounded by the flamboyant rhetoric and angry tone of conservative activists and media personalities, according to interviews with GOP officials and operatives.

Court Deals Blow to Owners of Huge Apartment Complex — The Court of Appeals dealt a financial blow on Thursday morning to the already beleaguered owners of the sprawling Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complexes in Manhattan when it ruled that they improperly began charging market rents on thousands of apartments..

Iran, Israel attend secret nuclear meet in Cairo — Israeli and Iranian representatives recently took part in a conference in Cairo on nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East, the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) said Thursday, but Tehran said the report on the meeting was untrue.

Republicans Overtweet — Twitter shuts down 33 fake accounts created by state Republicans in an attempt to lambast Dems — Barack Obama's victory last year left many Republicans bemoaning their party's ineptitude when it came to political exploitation of the Web.

Torture songs spur a protest most vocal — Musicians call for release of records on Guantanamo detainee treatment — Was the theme to “Sesame Street” really played to torture prisoners held at Guantanamo and other detention camps? What about Don McLean's “American Pie”? Or the Meow Mix jingle?

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